Sunday, February 5, 2017

MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNION BY VALENTINE IGBONEKWU

In the light of recent events, our lips are forced to ask a
singular question: what is the essence of our union? To better
appreciate the gravity of emotions behind that question, summon the
memory of the last time you failed at a task you’ve done over and over
again forcing you to ask: what is the point of this? With that backdrop,
let’s ask again: is there a point to our union given the results of our
current predicament? A sigh of resignation or scowl of irritation
should follow if you’re on track. However, let’s find an answer.

The concept of unionism arises consequent upon the urgent need to
foster the interests of the members of a particular association. Thus,
the fundamental rights to freedom of thought and expression,
association, movement, personal liberty and dignity remain the live-wire
of unionism. By logic, it is sensible for us to have a union. So
sensible is the concept of unionism amongst students that it has existed
since 1884. So we as students of the Premier University should never be
apologetic for our existence as an organization interested in the
protection of its interest.

Despite the aforementioned, this does not change the fact that it
seems that when our union moves one retaliatory foot forward, the
consequence is a moonwalk back to our former position; so much so that
our struggle has neither changed nor grown.
So if the problem is not in having a union in the first place, then
it implies that anyone who proffers a solution that there should be no
union of students in the university system, as students should rely
solely on the directives of the school management, has been wrong since
1884. Thus, if you have a problem with a result, examine the tactics
employed to achieve that result. Our tactics rest in the womb of the
latin maxim: aluta continua Victoria ascerta, the rallying cry that
originated from the mouth of Samora Machel against Portuguese colonial
presence; the rallying cry of any protest. Does this mean that the
solution to our problems is – no protest? Obviously not! Protest is to
UI as blood is to man. The 1962 nation-wide student demonstration was
championed by the University of Ibadan students, against the signing of
the Anglo/Nigerian Defence Pact. Through their concerted peaceful
demonstration, the students were able to get the post-independence
Nigerian government to drop the idea of signing a defence pact with
Britain. Yet today, we cannot successfully fight for power or water
supply in our halls of residence within our campus. So, what should we
be doing differently?

Our first recourse is nicely displayed in an article by a student of
our own University, ‘Kunle Adebajo titled Redefining the Concept of
Campus Aluta. He states that school administrators are so used to our
methods of unionism that they have mastered the art of quelling these
methods. Hence, he proposes inter alia, that we grow to our
“technological reality” by heavily (not lightly) employing the use of
social media tools. Even the President of the National Union of Students
in the UK pointed out in a 2010 interview with the BBC, that creating
awareness through social media was an important tool in the struggle
against increment in fees.

The writer also astutely points out the wisdom in utlising the media
to our advantage. The management seems to have perfected this tactic to
a point where retaliatory moves by students are reported by the media,
in a manner that conjures up an image of a bunch student with high
sentiments and hormones simply throwing tantrums like spoilt brats. We
must realize that media houses are our friends and have the power to
announce correctly our image and the intellectual intention behind our
struggle; depicting to the world that we are mature in the management of
our situation. In our century, social media is a potent weapon that can
cause irreparable damage than whipping the buttocks of a professor.

Second, we need information; lots of it! Sometimes as students we
consciously choose to forget that the Students’ Union is not only an
Aluta fighting machine but also a conduit pipe between the management
and students. So often, I have been in protests where most students do
not know the surrounding circumstances leading up to the protest. I ask a
student “why are you protesting?” he replies and says “The school is
always cheating us”. I ask back “yes, but what happened?” he replies,
clearly irritated, “baba, leave that one, if you no wan protest, go hide
for your room like woman, you dey ask wetin happen as if say you no be
Uite!” It is this lack of a united front that affects our ability to be
taken seriously. This means we can even stop a protest from ever
occurring if students are constantly kept up to date on the status of a
problem and the surrounding circumstances. It is the job of the
students’ union to source out information through any lawful means
possible; to make the management understand that it is the right of
students to be kept abreast with the reasons for a problem and the
progress being made. When you leave students in the dark, they’ll leave
the dark in violence with any untruthful light they find. This is the
fundamental task of a union to be a bank of information.

My understanding of our union finds expression beyond the words
stated above. I believe that our union should be solution-based and not
problem-ridden for we pay not for problems but for solutions.

I choose not to run in circles. Let the solutions to out problems be consolidated.
VALENTINUS_UISU’17